US rescue bid

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Sept 25, 2008

AMERICA will face "financial panic" and a "long and painful recession" unless the US Congress fails to pass a rescue package immediately, President George Bush said today.

Mr Bush said the United States needed to put its economy "back on track" as Congress was considering a 700 billion dollar rescue plan to tackle the "extraordinary" financial crisis gripping the nation.

In his televised address, the president also confirmed he had invited both presidential candidates and the leaders of the House and Senate to the White House in a bid to secure the bill to rescue the foundering US economy.

The rescue package was aimed at "preserving America's overall economy", not saving individual companies, Mr Bush said.